Brioche Organic Tea

Weekend Sample Sipdown, #1! It’s time for me to start using up my samples that I have gotten in so many lovely swaps. I’ve decided that weekends are for samples only.

So, today I drank a pot of this. I can’t remember who sent this to me…my apologies to the generous giver! I didn’t get any scent from the dry leaf, and that worried me. Once brewed and sweetened, I could smell raisins. When I tasted it, I got the raisin, dough, spice flavors. At first when hot, it was delicious. As it cooled, the black tea flavor seemed to thin out a little bit, but it was still good. This is definitely a tea I would drink again. Thank you, mystery sender!

Oh… Wow! OH WOW!! Thank-you QuiltGuppy for sending a small sample of this one my way! I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

When the package is opened all you can smell is cinnamon and freshly baked brioche, it makes me instantly think of my weekly indulgence. Brioche and a London Fog at Serious Coffee on Saturday mornings while I read a book and waste away a few hours (I am starting to get good at that)

But instantly I knew this would be a tea that I would not be sharing with my co-workers; I love to share tea, and they are forever telling me: “I think this is the point where we realise that tea is crack to you and this is an intervention” Nooooooo!

I have forgotten myself, the American Tea Room has nailed every nuance of flavour or brioche in this tea. From sticky brown sugar, to melted butter, to carb-sugar-gooey-goodness of soft dough – all of those flavours you can smell and taste. It was tough to share this with my co-workers and even tougher to leave behind at work as a Friday treat for the Manager who is covering me tomorrow for my extra long weekend off! (Friday to Monday!!)

This tea is a delight, and I will admit I am “biting the bullet” and applying for a credit card if only to get this one and Dan Cong sent to me on a regular basis… QuiltGuppy you are an influencer! (But don’t get me wrong, I am enjoying this!)

I’m really not having any luck with the ATR samples. First was the So Coconut. Now with Brioche. I am so bummed because Brioche sounded so mouthwateringly enticing. Reading about this tea is what turned me on to ATR in the first place. And reviews have touted its ability to conjure images of French Patisseries. I don’t get the pastry smell everyone has been raving about in the dry leaf. All I get is plain ole black tea. I see the sliver of almonds and the safflower. Where’s the aroma and flavor? This is a fussy high maintenance tea. Steep too long you get bitter. Steep not enough you get watery. I just don’t get any flavor out of this brew. 2 teaspoons, 1.5, 1? I still don’t see myself on the streets of Paris eating croissants. Sad to say it just reminded me of Lipton. The flavor in here is very subtle, it’s like squinting to read the fine print. Milk and sweetener brings out any semblance of flavor but it’s barely there. Maybe its just my sample, maybe not, maybe I’m not doing something right. I’m on the fence giving this tea a second chance considering its price.

TastyBrew’s Personally recommended blend from her mystery swap box.

It’s not half bad. The flavors are very well balanced and there’s no unpleasant aftertaste. I’m not super thrilled about almond flavor in my teas, but I wouldn’t say no to a second cup of this.

This is so lovely! I’d been looking forward to trying it for a while and it absolutely lived up to what i was hoping for. It legitimately smells like cookies in the tin and in the cup, and to be honest? It tastes like it too. I have no idea how this tea was accomplished. I want to give every single award to whoever said “You know what’s not fair? It’s the 21st century, and we’re still not capable of drinking a pastry. Let’s fix that!” I have to assume this was the intent. It tastes like delicious dessert bread or cookies or something, with an almondy-cinnamon aftertaste, which I note because I normally really don’t like cinnamon but this tea blends it so well that I don’t mind.

It’s a great autumn-winter tea, I think, and I will DEFINITELY buy it again.

Good initial impressions. I need to use the rest of the sample and get a few more cups before I make a decision as to how I like it, but it smells nicely of cinnamon and home-made cookies.
Actually, it almost reminded me (in a good way) of caramalized carrots (with cinnamon and brown sugar).

Looking forward to giving it another try.

This is a fabulous dessert tea. It is almost like and as satisfying as eating a pastry.

I realised today that I can’t open this without making myself a cup. It smells like fresh pastry. It’s nutty and cinnamon-y and buttery, but really the flaky delicious pastry note is the biggest. And it tastes like an almond croissant bathed in butter and cinnamon. It’s so hard to go wrong here.

Brioche’s astoundingly decadent aroma and flavor make it one tea that has dry leaves that perfectly capture the spicy-sweet aroma of a Parisian patisserie with intoxicating, beguiling, tempting aromas of nuts, spices and an unrivaled baked sweet note.
This made a nice breakfast cup of tea, however, I think this is a tea I could cuddle up with in the evening during my “Me Time” and tea.

The tea smells exactly like a pastry or scone with raisins and almonds. I like the idea of these sweet foods, but maybe not in my tea. It doesn’t provide a superb taste.. Maybe a little bit too much raisin? Too much of the “bready” tone? I think this would be fantastic if you like the idea of drinking a breakfast pastry.

Happy happy tasting tea! Pastry with cinnamon and almond, just a delight to sip!!!

yummy! spices not too strong, just enough for yumminess!

This is one of my favorite teas. Really has a pastry flavor to it. I never let my cupboard run out before ording more.

I think this is growing on me. The tea smells wonderful, almondy, bakey, yes, brioche, exactly.

I first tried it last week. I brewed it as instructed, with 1 heaped teaspoon per 6 oz water, and a 4 minute steep. Eeeww. Yes, brioche, but burnt brioche, and bitter black tea. Very bitter. Not nice. Way too strong.

I tried it again. A small teaspoon, 12 oz water, 2 minutes steep. Better. Not so burnt, not so bitter. A bit weak though.

Yesterday, I found myself craving a little something almondy, bakey, brioche-like. Ahh, I’ve got just the thing! One tsp? No, too whimpy, need two. Two minutes? No, four sounds better. Yum! Burnt brioche!

Today: must drink Brioche, must drink Brioche, must drink more Brioche!

I won’t rate until my thoughts about this are more stable.

The aroma when I opened my sample about knocked me over. With the scents of almond and cinnamon wafting up, I was taken back to the time I spent in Paris wandering thru the little bakeries picking up pastries for breakfast. The blurb that American Tea Room has up about this tea is right on the mark. Visually this is also a very pleasing tea with the black tea leaves being mixed with almond slices and the scarlet of safflower blossoms.

I set up my first cup to brew in my Zarafina Tea-maker set on a medium black setting using 1 teaspoon of leaves. Once brewed the aroma of the almonds and cinnamon persist though they are lighter. I tried my first cup with just a touch of rock sugar and I have to admit that I was disappointed. The tea itself was very smooth but the cinnamon left a bitter aftertaste. Just not my cup of tea.

I am really glad that American Tea Room sends large enough samples that I could play around. For my second cup I used the same settings for brewing but once brewed I added a touch of creamer to go with the rock sugar. Oh my goodness, what a difference. My Brioche tea turned into the perfect desert tea. It was just like eating a cinnamon roll without all the calories. I also tried it with vanilla soy milk and I have to say that I am hooked. This tea is going on my list of order from American Tea Room.